The beginnings of a solution
Psalm 90
2 Samuel 7: 18-29
Revelation 22: 12-16
You know, the problem with my write a first draft, maybe scan for typos, and then hit publish method of writing (because to make this whole blog-thing work, that is truly all the time I have), is that I think about what I've written that morning and want to go back and do some editing. Imagine.
Yesterday, I played a little fast and loose with the C. S. Lewis quote, and those of you who are Lewis fans were probably grinding their teeth a bit. Lewis calls Aslan, the Christ figure, not a tame lion. Safe wasn't a part of it. My apologies.
Not tame, not safe, yesterday's readings do leave one a little uncomfortable. God is not someone to be taken lightly, nor is God always totally understandable to our feeble, human, time-bound selves. If we were to leave the story there, we might be hesitant to want to seek out God at all. Who knows what could happen?
But God does not leave us there. We need to understand something of His essence to fully appreciate what comes next. Unless we understand the magnitude of the problem, how can we even begin to grasp the greatness of the solution? It is the solution that today's readings start to hint at.
Here we have two prayers by two men who are arguably two of the most pivotal men in the Old Testament... Moses and David. Both men walked extremely closely with God. Both experienced God's power and judgement, but also God's favor and mercy.
Psalm 90 is thought to be written by Moses at about the end of Numbers 14. The spies had been sent out to spy out the Promised Land, but had come back with a false report out of fear. Because of this rebellion, God decides to disinherit Israel and make a nation from Moses instead. Moses pleads for Israel, something he will become very good at, and God relents, but decrees that only Joshua and Caleb will enter the Promised Land. The people, with a new sense of (misplaced) obedience, decide to go and take the Promised Land, even though Moses warns them that God is not going with them. It does not go well, and there is no victory. Moses' psalm comes right here, in between these events and the ones we read yesterday.
Moses has seen God, he has also seen God's power and judgement. He knows God is not to be taken lightly, yet the second half of his prayer is pleading for Israel to find God's favor, for God to draw close. It is a yearning for God. God is not just a holy judge, there is something else, something we need, something that will satisfy us. God's love. Think about that. What would it feel like to be genuinely and completely satisfied?
We can only experience that love by drawing close to God. Do you see the problem now? What we desperately yearn for, enveloping, ultimately satisfying love, is the thing we cannot have because we are not holy enough to come into the presence of the source of that love. We are left yearning for what we cannot have under our own power.
With Moses, the solution was through the people of Israel, by the time we get to David, the focus of the solution has been narrowed down to the house of David. David wants to build a house for God. Until this time, the Ark of the Covenant, where God comes to dwell with Israel has been in a tent, the tabernacle. David, now kind of Israel, sees this as wrong and desires to build God a fancy, beautiful house, such as he as king is now living in.
God says no, David may not build God a house, but instead, God will build David a house. It will be an everlasting house, with an offspring whose kingdom will be forever, and from whom God's steadfast love will never depart. Here is one of the first glimmers of the solution. David's prayer is a response to this wondrous news. David is humbled and overawed and incredibly grateful in his praise of God.
Finally, like an eager reader who can't wait to see how a book ends, we skip to the end of the story and land in Revelation. We find Jesus. Jesus, the son of David. The Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Jesus was there all the time, though it wasn't always obvious.
Jesus is our solution, the way we can experience God's overwhelming and satisfying love. Jesus, the One who was disciplined with the rod of men, with the stripes of the son of men (Numbers 7:14), is the one who takes the wrath of a holy God so we can draw near. Jesus solves the problem.
Alleluia!
2 Samuel 7: 18-29
Revelation 22: 12-16
You know, the problem with my write a first draft, maybe scan for typos, and then hit publish method of writing (because to make this whole blog-thing work, that is truly all the time I have), is that I think about what I've written that morning and want to go back and do some editing. Imagine.
Yesterday, I played a little fast and loose with the C. S. Lewis quote, and those of you who are Lewis fans were probably grinding their teeth a bit. Lewis calls Aslan, the Christ figure, not a tame lion. Safe wasn't a part of it. My apologies.
Not tame, not safe, yesterday's readings do leave one a little uncomfortable. God is not someone to be taken lightly, nor is God always totally understandable to our feeble, human, time-bound selves. If we were to leave the story there, we might be hesitant to want to seek out God at all. Who knows what could happen?
But God does not leave us there. We need to understand something of His essence to fully appreciate what comes next. Unless we understand the magnitude of the problem, how can we even begin to grasp the greatness of the solution? It is the solution that today's readings start to hint at.
Here we have two prayers by two men who are arguably two of the most pivotal men in the Old Testament... Moses and David. Both men walked extremely closely with God. Both experienced God's power and judgement, but also God's favor and mercy.
Psalm 90 is thought to be written by Moses at about the end of Numbers 14. The spies had been sent out to spy out the Promised Land, but had come back with a false report out of fear. Because of this rebellion, God decides to disinherit Israel and make a nation from Moses instead. Moses pleads for Israel, something he will become very good at, and God relents, but decrees that only Joshua and Caleb will enter the Promised Land. The people, with a new sense of (misplaced) obedience, decide to go and take the Promised Land, even though Moses warns them that God is not going with them. It does not go well, and there is no victory. Moses' psalm comes right here, in between these events and the ones we read yesterday.
Moses has seen God, he has also seen God's power and judgement. He knows God is not to be taken lightly, yet the second half of his prayer is pleading for Israel to find God's favor, for God to draw close. It is a yearning for God. God is not just a holy judge, there is something else, something we need, something that will satisfy us. God's love. Think about that. What would it feel like to be genuinely and completely satisfied?
We can only experience that love by drawing close to God. Do you see the problem now? What we desperately yearn for, enveloping, ultimately satisfying love, is the thing we cannot have because we are not holy enough to come into the presence of the source of that love. We are left yearning for what we cannot have under our own power.
With Moses, the solution was through the people of Israel, by the time we get to David, the focus of the solution has been narrowed down to the house of David. David wants to build a house for God. Until this time, the Ark of the Covenant, where God comes to dwell with Israel has been in a tent, the tabernacle. David, now kind of Israel, sees this as wrong and desires to build God a fancy, beautiful house, such as he as king is now living in.
God says no, David may not build God a house, but instead, God will build David a house. It will be an everlasting house, with an offspring whose kingdom will be forever, and from whom God's steadfast love will never depart. Here is one of the first glimmers of the solution. David's prayer is a response to this wondrous news. David is humbled and overawed and incredibly grateful in his praise of God.
Finally, like an eager reader who can't wait to see how a book ends, we skip to the end of the story and land in Revelation. We find Jesus. Jesus, the son of David. The Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Jesus was there all the time, though it wasn't always obvious.
Jesus is our solution, the way we can experience God's overwhelming and satisfying love. Jesus, the One who was disciplined with the rod of men, with the stripes of the son of men (Numbers 7:14), is the one who takes the wrath of a holy God so we can draw near. Jesus solves the problem.
Alleluia!
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